Gill Sans is a sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill and released by the British branch of Monotype from 1928 onwards. Gill Sans takes inspiration from the calligrapher and lettering artist Edward Johnston's 1916 "Underground Alphabet", the corporate font of London Underground, now (although not at the time) most often simply called the "Johnston" typeface. Gill as a young artist had assisted Johnston in its early development stages. In 1926, Douglas Cleverdon, a young printer and later a BBC executive, opened a bookshop in Bristol, and Gill painted a fascia for the shop in sans-serif capitals. In addition, Gill sketched an alphabet for Cleverdon as a guide for him to use for notices and announcements. By this time Gill had become a prominent stonemason, artist and creator of lettering